Senior Supt. Ricardo dela Paz was designated officer-in-charge of the Bacolod City Police Office effective yesterday, Police Regional Office-6 Director, Chief Supt. Cepriano Querol, told the DAILY STAR.

Dela Paz will sit as OIC for a month while City Police Director, Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, is recuperating from a recent operation after an injury in a vehicular accident, Querol also said.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he is accepting dela Paz as OIC  police director on a temporary basis.

Querol said that PRO-6 spokesperson, Senior Supt. Ranolfo Demiar, will temporarily be designated as Regional Operations and Plans Division chief in lieu of Dela Paz.

Querol explained that there is a memorandum from the national headquarters in Camp Crame that all officers in charge of a provincial or city police office should have a rank of senior superintendent. He added that it will depend on Leonardia if he will ask Dela Paz to stay after his one-month stint.

 But Leonardia said “it is premature to talk about a replacement for Guara, our primary concern is to see that he fully recovers from his injuries.”

Querol has instructed Dela Paz to further intensify the campaign against illegal gambling, especially jai-alai in Bacolod, being the top priority of PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo.

Aside from that, Querol also told Dela Paz to make sure that the Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force formed in Bacolod recently to “seal off” drug affected barangays is doing its job.

Dela Paz used to be police chief of Kabankalan, Silay and San Carlos cities in Negros Occidental and was the head of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division before he became the Police Provincial Director of Iloilo.

Meanwhile, BCPO Deputy Director for administration, Supt. Pedrito Escarilla, yesterday said that Guara was stable after he had a titanium metal implant Friday to rehabilitate his fractured left cheekbone.

Escarilla, who visited Guara at the Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital yesterday, said that the city police director is expected to be released tomorrow.

Guara was on board his Toyota Altis, with plate number FDK-142 and was heading west of Alunan Street when the black Starex van with plate number FGR-675 driven by Danilo Fernandez, 57, of Regent Pearl Homes in Brgy. Alijis, Bacolod, bumped them.

Guara, his close-in security Police Officer 2 Wilfredo Benoman and his driver Police Officer 2 Miguel Perez III sustained injuries.*APN

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